Since 1990, the biggest events in men's tennis have been the four Grand Slam tournaments, the ATP Finals and the ATP Masters tournaments, in addition to the Grand Slam Cup between 1990–99. From 1983 to 1990, men's tennis had a very strong tradition and clear hierarchy of tournaments: the Grand Slam tournaments, including Wimbledon, the US Open, the French Open, and the Australian Open; the season-ending Masters Grand Prix; and the Davis Cup. Before 1983, however, and in particular before the start of the Open Era in 1968, the hierarchy of professional tournaments changed virtually every year. For example, in 1934, the U.S. Pro was a high-class tournament with all the best players, but just two years later, the same tournament was ordinary because only professional teachers (no leading touring pros) entered the event.

Professional tennis before the Open Era

Before the start of the Open Era and in addition to numerous small tournaments and head-to-head tours between the leading professionals, there were a few major professional tournaments that stood out during different periods:

• Some survived sporadically because of financial collapses and others temporarily stood out when other important tournaments were not held:
  • Bristol Cup (held on the Côte d'Azur (French Riviera) at Cannes or Menton or Beaulieu) from 1920 to 1932.
  • Queen's Club Pro (in the 1927 and 1928).
  • International Pro Championship of Britain in Southport in the 1930s.
  • World Pro Championships in Berlin in the 1930s.
  • U.S Pro Hardcourt in Los Angeles, California in 1945 (the only significant professional tournament that year).
  • Philadelphia Pro 1950–1952.
  • Tournament of Champions, held at Forest Hills 1957, 1958, 1959, and also held in Australia at White City (1957, 1959) and at Kooyong (1958).
  • Masters Pro Round Robin in Los Angeles in 1956, 1957 and 1958.
  • Australian Pro in 1954, 1957, and 1958.
  • Madison Square Garden Pro in 1966 and 1967.
  • Wimbledon Pro in 1967.
• There were a few team events modeled on the Davis Cup, such as the Bonnardel Cup in the 1930s and the Kramer Cup from 1961 through 1963.
• Three traditional "championship tournaments" survived into the Open Era, often having all the leading players but sometimes having very depleted fields.
  • The most prestigious of the three was generally the London Indoor Professional Championship. Played between 1934 and 1990 at Wembley Arena in England, it was unofficially usually considered the world championship until 1967.
  • The oldest of the three was the United States Professional Championship, played between 1927 and 1999. From 1954 through 1962, this tournament was played indoors in Cleveland and was called the "World Professional Championships".
  • The third major tournament was the French Professional Championship, played usually at Roland Garros from 1934 (perhaps before but the data are unclear) through 1968. The British and American championships continued into the Open Era but soon devolved to the status of minor tournaments.

Because of the instability of the professional tour, the greatest tournaments in a given year could be the three "championship tournaments" (such as in 1964) or other tournaments (such as in 1959 when the greatest tournaments probably were the Forest Hills Pro, the Masters Pro in Los Angeles, and almost all the Australian pro tournaments).

However these three tournaments were considered retrospectively by some tennis experts as the three tournaments of the professional Grand Slam (until 1967). Some years as in 1948, only one of them was held, the U.S Pro in this case, and even in 1944 none was organized : this explains why professionals players have less impressive records than those of the modern players but it doesn't mean that the banished players of the pre-Open Era were less great than their Open Era colleagues.

As with any statistics, those of tennis players should be put into the correct context because: a) they are mixing performances of the amateur circuit (until 1967), the professional circuit (until 1967), and the open circuit (since 1968). b) they don't always take into account the greatest events of a given year (such as the 1959 example above).

For instance, Ken Rosewall's amateur successes between 1953 and 1956 were achieved without having to compete against world-class professionals like Frank Sedgman and Pancho Gonzales. Likewise, when Rod Laver captured the amateur Grand Slam in 1962, he did not have to face opponents such as Rosewall, Lew Hoad, Pancho Segura and Andrés Gimeno, all professionals, and therefore his 1962 Grand Slam is not seen as impressive as his 1969 Grand Slam which he won in the Open Era. In 1967 Laver was omnipotent on fast courts, winning all the greatest pro tournaments that year, Wimbledon Pro (grass), the U.S. Pro (grass), Wembley Pro (indoor wood, fastest surface ever used in tennis) and the French Pro (indoor wood). In the official statistics as published by the ITF or ATP these tournaments are seldom listed because only the amateur tournaments were taken into account. Yet Laver's supremacy in 1967 was undisputed: in his statistics (19 major tournaments) three of the four previous tournaments are listed. The one tournament not chosen is 1967 Wimbledon Pro because it was a one-off event and not a "Grand Slam pro" tournament but it was probably the greatest pro event of the 60s and in particular of 1967. It indicates that the Grand Slam label in the pre-Open Era is not always attributed to the greatest tournaments of a given year.

In reality to fairly compare pre-Open Era players' records with Open Era players, it would be necessary to select from the tennis beginnings the four greatest events of each year, knowing it would change every year (some years it is difficult to choose the four greatest tennis events). Thus, for instance, Ken Rosewall's record of 23 victories, indicated above, would be reduced to about 21 tournaments "equivalent to the modern Grand Slam tournaments": Wembley Pro 1957, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963 – New York City-Madison Square Garden Pro 1966 – French Pro 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966 – French Open 1968 – U.S. Pro 1963, 1965 – US Open 1970 – Australian Open 1971 – WCT Finals 1971, 1972. In that list, on one hand have disappeared all Rosewall's great amateur successes (Australia 1953, 1955 – Roland Garros 1953 – U.S. 1956) and also the 1972 Australian Open without eighteen of the twenty best players, but on the other hand have appeared some pro tournaments which weren't one of the three classic ones (see Ken Rosewall's article).

Most major singles titles

The three professional tournaments (Wembley Pro, French Pro, U.S. Pro) until 1967 are sometimes referred as the 'professional Grand Slam tournaments' by tennis historians, such as Robert Geist or Raymond Lee (in his Greatest Player of All time: A Statistical Analysis article).^[1] This list comprises winners of three types of titles; Amateur Era and Open Era majors (Australian, French, Wimbledon, and US championships), plus the three Amateur Era professional majors (French Pro, Wembley Pro, and US Pro).

• As of the 2023 French Open (active players in boldface).

Player	Total	Grand Slam tournaments[lower-alpha 1]				Pro Slam tournaments
		Australian	French	Wimbledon	U.S.	French Pro	Wembley Pro	U.S. Pro
Novak Djokovic	24	2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023	2016, 2021, 2023	2011, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022	2011, 2015, 2018, 2023
Ken Rosewall[lower-alpha 2]	23	1953, 1955, 1971, 1972	1953, 1968		1956, 1970	1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966	1957, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963	1963, 1965
Rafael Nadal	22	2009, 2022	2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022	2008, 2010	2010, 2013, 2017, 2019
Roger Federer	20	2004, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2017, 2018	2009	2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2017	2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
Rod Laver[lower-alpha 3]	19	1960, 1962, 1969	1962, 1969	1961, 1962, 1968, 1969	1962, 1969	1967	1964, 1965, 1966, 1967	1964, 1966, 1967
Bill Tilden[lower-alpha 4]	14			1920, 1921, 1930	1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1929	1934		1931, 1935
Pancho Gonzales					1948, 1949		1950, 1951, 1952, 1956	1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961
Pete Sampras		1994, 1997		1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000	1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2002
Roy Emerson	12	1961, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967	1963, 1967	1964, 1965	1961, 1964
Henri Cochet[lower-alpha 5]	11		1926, 1928, 1930, 1932	1927, 1929	1928	1936
Björn Borg			1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981	1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980
Fred Perry	10	1934	1935	1934, 1935, 1936	1933, 1934, 1936			1938, 1941
Don Budge		1938	1938	1937, 1938	1937, 1938	1939	1939	1940, 1942

^ Only players with 10+ Major titles listed.

Majors statistics

The draws of Pro majors were significantly smaller than the traditional Grand Slam tournaments; usually they only had 16 or even fewer professional players. Though they were the top players in the world, this meant only four rounds of play instead of the modern six or seven rounds of play.

Player	Slams	Pro	Era			Surface				Time Span			Win/Loss	Win %
			Amateur	Pro	Open	Grass	Clay	Hard	Indoor	Age	Span	Years
Novak Djokovic	24	–	N/A		24	7	3	14	N/A	20–36	17	2008–2023	361–48	88.30
Ken Rosewall	8	15	4	15	4	8	6	N/A	9	18–37	20	1953–1972	246–46	84.24
Rafael Nadal	22	–	N/A		22	2	14	6	N/A	19–35	17	2005–2022	314–43	87.96
Roger Federer	20	–	N/A		20	8	1	11	N/A	21–36	16	2003–2018	369–60	86.01
Rod Laver	11	8	6	8	5	12	2	N/A	5	21–31	11	1960–1969	180–36	83.33
Bill Tilden	10	3	10 (+1)[lower-alpha 1]	3	N/A	11	3	0	0	27–42	16	1920–1935	154–30	83.69
Pancho Gonzales	2	12	2	12	0	2	0	N/A	12	20–33	14	1948–1961	103–29	78.03
Pete Sampras	14	–	N/A		14	7	0	7	N/A	19–31	13	1990–2002	203–38	84.23
Roy Emerson	12	–	12	N/A	0	10	2	N/A	N/A	24–30	7	1961–1967	174–39	81.69
Henri Cochet	8	1	8 (+2)[lower-alpha 1]	1	N/A	3	5	0	3	20–34	15	1922–1936	113–20	84.96
Björn Borg	11	–	N/A		11	5	6	0	N/A	18–25	8	1974–1981	141–16	89.81
Fred Perry	8	2	8	2	N/A	7	2	0	1	24–32	9	1933–1941	120–22	84.51
Don Budge	6	4	6	4	N/A	6	3	0	1	22–27	6	1937–1942	95–18	84.07

1. 1 2 ILTF majors in parentheses. See ILTF World Championships winners.

Pro World Championship winners

In the years before the Open Era, male professionals often played more frequently in tours than in tournaments because a head-to-head tour between two tennis stars was much more remunerative than a circuit of pro tournaments and the number of professional tournaments was small. For example, Fred Perry earned U.S. $91,000 in a 1937 North American tour against Ellsworth Vines but won only U.S. $450 for his 1938 victory at the U.S. Pro Tennis Championships. Vines probably never entered a tournament between the London Indoor Professional Championship in October 1935, which he won, and the May 1939 edition of that tournament, which he lost. In 1937, Vines played 70 matches on two tours and no matches in tournaments. Even in the 1950s, some professionals continued to play numerous tour matches. During his first five months as a professional (January through May 1957), Ken Rosewall played 76 matches on a tour against Pancho Gonzales but only 9 matches in tournaments. As an example of the small number of professional tournaments held before the Open Era, Joe McCauley has determined that for 1952, only 7 professional tournaments were played by the top international players, and 2 other professional tournaments (the British Pro and the German Pro) were reserved for domestic players. However, there were professional tournament series with a point system attached which produced a pro ranking in some years, notably 1946, 1959, 1960, 1964–68.

The prevalence of head-to-head tours and the small number of professional tournaments in many years makes it necessary to consider the tours when comparing male players from before the Open Era with male players during the Open Era. The following lists the pre-Open Era professionals who won the most tours based on the information currently available.

Pro World Championship leaders (1928–63)

Player	#	Years
Pancho Gonzales	7	1954, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61
Ellsworth Vines	5	1934, 35, 36, 37, 38
Don Budge	4	1939 (Mar), 39 (May), 41, 42
Jack Kramer		1948, 50, 51, 53
Bill Tilden	3	1931, 32, 33
Karel Koželuh	1	1928
Bobby Riggs		1946
Ken Rosewall		1963

ILTF World Championships winners

• World Championships were played between 1912 and 1923.

Year	WGCC	WHCC	WCCC
1912	Anthony Wilding	Otto Froitzheim	tournament not created
1913	Anthony Wilding (2/5)	Anthony Wilding (3/5)	Anthony Wilding (4/5)
1914	Norman Brookes	Anthony Wilding (5/5)	Not held due to World War I
1915	No competition due to World War I
1916
1917
1918
1919	Gerald Patterson	Not held	Andre Gobert
1920	Bill Tilden	William Laurentz	Gordon Lowe
1921	Bill Tilden (2/3)	Bill Tilden (3/3)	William Laurentz
1922	Gerald Patterson (2/2)	Henri Cochet	Henri Cochet (2/3)
1923	Bill Johnston	Bill Johnston (2/2)	Henri Cochet (3/3)

Year-end Championships winners

• Year-end Championships have been played since 1970.

Player	ATP Finals	WCT Finals	Slam Cup	Years
Novak Djokovic	7	N/A	N/A	2008–2023
Roger Federer	6	N/A	N/A	2003–2011
Ivan Lendl	5	2	–	1981–1987
Pete Sampras		N/A	2	1991–1999
Ilie Năstase	4	–	N/A	1971–1975
John McEnroe	3	5	–	1978–1989
Boris Becker		1	1	1988–1996
Björn Borg	2	1	N/A	1976–1980
Jimmy Connors	1	2	N/A	1977–1980

^ Only players with 3+ YEC titles listed.

Masters Series winners

• Masters Series has been played since 1990.

Player	Titles	Years
Novak Djokovic	40	2007–2023
Rafael Nadal	36	2005–2021
Roger Federer	28	2002–2019
Andre Agassi	17	1990–2004
Andy Murray	14	2008–2016
Pete Sampras	11	1992–2000

^ Only players with 10+ Masters titles listed.

Year-end No. 1s

• An undisputed number one player for the year (without another player regarded as co-number one) is shown in bold.

Total	World No. 1	Years
9 years	Novak Djokovic	2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023
8 years	Pancho Gonzales	1952, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960
7 years	William Renshaw	1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1889
	Bill Tilden	1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1931
	Rod Laver	1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970
6 years	Pete Sampras	1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998
	Ken Rosewall	1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1970
	Jimmy Connors	1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1982
	Rafael Nadal	2008, 2010, 2013, 2017, 2019, 2022
5 years	Roger Federer	2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
	Laurence Doherty	1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906
	Don Budge	1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1942
	William Larned	1901, 1902, 1908, 1909, 1910
	Ellsworth Vines	1932, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937
	Jack Kramer	1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1953
	Ivan Lendl	1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990
	Björn Borg	1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980
	Joshua Pim	1890, 1891, 1893, 1894, 1895
	Reginald Doherty	1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1902
4 years	Bobby Riggs	1941, 1945, 1946, 1947
	John McEnroe	1981, 1982, 1983, 1984
	Wilfred Baddeley	1891, 1892, 1895, 1896
3 years	Henri Cochet	1928, 1929, 1930
	Ernest Renshaw	1887, 1888, 1892
	Norman Brookes	1907, 1911, 1912
	Anthony Wilding	1911, 1912, 1913
	Fred Perry	1936, 1937, 1941
2 years	John Hartley	1879, 1880
	René Lacoste	1926, 1927
	Lleyton Hewitt	2001, 2002
	Stefan Edberg	1990, 1991
	Maurice McLoughlin	1912, 1914
	Stan Smith	1971, 1972
	Willoughby Hamilton	1889, 1890
	Ernest Lewis	1890, 1891
	Malcolm Whitman	1899, 1900
	Bill Johnston	1919, 1922
	Pancho Segura	1950, 1952
1 year	Spencer Gore	1877
	Frank Hadow	1878
	Jack Crawford	1933
	Ilie Năstase	1973
	Mats Wilander	1988
	Jim Courier	1992
	Andre Agassi	1999
	Gustavo Kuerten	2000
	Andy Roddick	2003
	Andy Murray	2016
	Herbert Lawford	1887
	Wilberforce Eaves	1897
	Robert Wrenn	1897
	Arthur Gore	1901
	Gerald Patterson	1919
	Lew Hoad	1959
	John Newcombe	1971
	Arthur Ashe	1975
	Guillermo Vilas	1977
	Boris Becker	1989
	Carlos Alcaraz	2022

See also

• List of Grand Slam tournaments champions
• List of Professional Majors champions
• List of World Championship Tours winners
• List of ATP Big Titles champions
• List of ATP Masters champions
• List of ATP Finals champions and WCT Finals champions
• World number 1 male tennis player rankings
• List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players

References

External links